INDUSTRY VOICESAs dog and cat beds and furniture can be bulky,how can retailers best display these products?

“All New Age Pet furniture ships in flat-pack or
knock-down boxes; this makes them both easy to drop
ship but also easy to keep on store shelves. We find
that stores that assemble one product at a time and
sell that product assembled are the most successful
with our products and furniture in general.”—STEVE
LUHRS, senior vice president of sales and marketing
for New Age Pet, a brand of Pinta International in
Hayward, Calif.

“For beds, we’ve utilized a unique system of cascading
shelving that is higher in the back than in the front, which
helps customers to easily view the product and feel the material. The shelving is a wire mesh so that light can still pass
through and we can help the colors stand out while avoiding
that enclosed, claustrophobic feeling in the aisles. This has
proven effective for helping to create appealing bed displays
in our store.”—IRARICHARDS, vicepresidentofmarketing
and business development for West Lebanon Feed & Supply
in West Lebanon, N.H.

“Pet beds are some of the toughest items in the pet
industry to display. They are often bulky, and even the
coolest display easily gets messy and out of control. This
is one area that we struggle with and always have. We do
utilize large industrial wooden spools to stack Bowsers
beds with complementing patterns and place them
around the store in the dog food area or front boutique
area to attract customer bed purchases. We have a nice
cat furniture display from Vesper that allows for a great
way to display all of our available cat towers.”—ALISON
SCHWARTZ, general manager of All Pets Considered in
Greensboro, N.C.

“If retailers do not have room to display large beds,
such as many urban stores,, keeping a bed on display
so customers can see it and feel it as well as displaying a physical catalog, or accessing from our website,
to show all of the different colors and sizes is a great
way to get customers interested and knowledgeable.”—SPENCER WILLIAMS, owner and CEO of West
Paw in Bozeman, Mont.

MARKETINGMOTIVATE THEM TO BUY

Spencer Williams, owner and CEO of Bozeman, Mont.-based West Paw, recommended that retailers loop avideo in-store, as it is a “powerful marketing tool when itcomes to selling products that have many features andare made in a unique way.”Pawz On Main in Cottonwood, Ariz., sends emailblasts to customers when new beds or furniture arrives,said co-owner Denise Strong. And at All Pets Consideredin Greensboro, N.C., the store sometimes offers bed salesto purge older items, which can call attention to newerproducts.

Sending out sales circulars featuring furniture or
beds and offering them at a slight discount works for
West Lebanon Feed & Supply in West Lebanon, N.H.

“As they are most typically a planned purchase, we
find that an added savings provides an effective call
to action to get that customer through our door,” said
Ira Richards, vice president of marketing and business
development.

“The classics have continuedto sell consistently, but we’realso seeing an increase in thesale of quilted and roll-up bedsto accompany the trendingoutdoors/camping style.”

—Ira Richards of West LebanonFeed & Supply

“Retailers have to understand the value of a well-balanced stack of beds in various colors and sizes. If you are proud of your bed selections, display them in the center or front
of the store on several large tables at different heights. Some of our biggest customers
understand the value of stacking and sell a lot of beds as a result.”—KIMIPROFFER,
owner of Luca for Dogs in Canoga Park, Calif.